PG&E buys Via Motors e-Rev electric pickups

ELECTRICITY PG&E buying trucks that run on and supply energy

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Think of the pickup truck from Via Motors as an electric generator on wheels.

The truck, unveiled Tuesday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, runs on electricity. But it also can supply electricity - enough to power whole houses.

And for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., it might just be the ideal vehicle.

PG&E has been testing two of the pickups since 2010. And the San Francisco utility liked the results enough to join Via at Tuesday's unveiling, with a PG&E executive saying his company was ready to order more.

The trucks could respond to small power outages, temporarily supplying electricity to blacked-out homes, PG&E Corp. Senior Vice President Greg Pruett told reporters at the auto show. The trucks can supply a maximum of 15 kilowatts of electricity at any given moment - more than the typical house requires.

PG&E field workers also could use the pickups to run their power tools.

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Runs power tools

To illustrate the point, Pruett fired up a circular saw plugged into one of Via's trucks.

"If you're a contractor, think about rolling to a work site and being able to plug that into your vehicle and run it off your truck all day long," Pruett said.

Many of the electric cars now hitting the market are small passenger vehicles, made for commuters. Via, however, targets the other end of the size spectrum. The company, based in the Detroit suburbs, has focused on electrifying large vehicles: trucks, SUVs and vans.

Via does not build its trucks from scratch. Instead, it installs its advanced hybrid power train in vehicles made by other companies. Its pickup trucks, for example, were originally Chevrolet Silverados that Via bought from General Motors.

Once converted, the trucks work much like a Chevy Volt. For about the first 40 miles of any trip, they run on power from their lithium-ion batteries. Then a gasoline-powered generator kicks in to recharge the battery and power the electric motor. The company calls its products e-REVs, for "extended range electric vehicles."

Appropriately enough, the former GM executive who spearheaded development of the Volt now serves on Via's corporate board. He told auto show reporters Tuesday that the electrification of transportation was inevitable.

"It's going to happen no matter what, so it makes all the sense in the world to start with the vehicles that are most popular with the American public and frankly use the most gasoline," said former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.

$2,700 fuel saving

Each Via truck has saved PG&E about $2,700 per year in fuel costs, when compared with a conventional pickup, Pruett said. The utility has about 3,500 similar vehicles in its fleet, and converting all of them would save PG&E about $9.5 million each year. The trucks, Pruett said, also require far less maintenance than their gasoline-powered peers.

PG&E has not yet determined how many more of the trucks to buy. For the moment, Pruett said, the utility's next purchase will probably be "in the lower double digits." But the number would likely grow, he said, as Via increases production.

Via and PG&E would not disclose how much the utility will pay for the trucks. But David West, Via's chief marketing officer, said the trucks currently cost anywhere from the high-$50,000 range to the low $70,000 range, with the price based on how many vehicles each customer orders. The company sells only to corporate fleets for the moment, but plans to market to consumers starting in 2013.